Psychoanalytic Sociology: A New Theory of the Social Bond

Singularities are lonely social groups; lonely in their relation to other singularities and so, lacking in a language shared with one another. With this isolation comes certainty and thus their strangeness is no longer constitutive, no longer repressed, but becomes elevated to a mode of social organization. It is not that there is something strange within our social worlds but rather that our social world has itself become strange. This strain of thinking is explored by Rousselle in this book, who offers a new theory of the social bond that accounts for recent developments in the cultural logic of capitalism and paradoxically centers the 'singularity'. Each chapter offers a different and compelling perspective on broader phenomenons and notions of estrangement within the civilization and rogue state, the master-slave dialectic, and the status of knowledge in the era of singularities. With enriched dialogues between Lacanian, Marxist theory and theoretical sociology as well as illustrative contemporary examples, Psychoanalytic Sociology argues that our current social crises are exemplified by the way in which social groups project their own inhumanity onto others. Uncompromising and aggressive wars, 'foreign agents,' and 'cancel culture,' are all features of the era of singularities: there is no recourse to judicial procedures, international treaties, marriage contracts, or ethics committees. The war between singularities runs very deep, and it exists at every scale (e.g., interpersonal, institutional, and cultural). This book navigates this strange new social world, invents a language capable of articulating it, and attempts to discover a way out of its most profound crisis. Cover Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction to Psychoanalytic Sociology Lacanian Sociology: From “No!” to “Wow!” George Ritzer’s Sociological Supermarket Theory or Meta-Theory, Yes Please! Overview of Book First Intervention: Lacanian Psychoanalysis and Qualitative Social Science Research Methodologies 1960s: Eclipsing the Truth as Cause 1970s: Scientific Phantasies and Psychoanalytic Delusions 2020s: Validity and Transferability in Social Scientific Research 1 What Does It Mean to Be Strange? Foreigners and Singularities Supernumerary and Extimacy Commonality Quality and Quantity Second Intervention: “You Are Not Having Milk!” 2 Uncanny Doubles Civilization State Religious Blindness The Uncanny The Double Rogue State Third Intervention: “Come on Baby, Let’s Do the False Twist” Escaping the Meta-Verse ChatGPT, from a Window in Baltimore Addendum to a debate with Zizek: Five Theses 3 Estrangement or Public Strangeness? A Preliminary Model of Strangeness Estrangement Summary 4 Sociology in Crisis Foreign Agents Inventions The Secret Is Out Outsiders Within Fourth Intervention: Psychoanalysis in Exile The Plague General War 5 Perverts, Monsters, and Postmodern Wisdom The Sociology of Knowledge Insiders and Outsiders The Postmodern Condition Particular Affirmations Capitalism Is the Alternative 6 Life and Death Strategies On Questions and Answers God Is a Chicken Life Strategies Fifth Intervention: The Lonely Anti-Racist 7 General War Between Man and the World Plat-farm Capitalism Post-Structuralism and the Woman Sixth Intervention: From Canned Laughter to Can’t Laughter References Index